Aimee Mullins

In Nancy Mairs’ article for The New York Times, “Disability”, published in 1987, she expresses her distaste with the media's representation of handicapped people. Mairs, who struggled with multiple sclerosis herself, clearly and sharply conveys this disgust by stating, “I’m not, for instance, Ms. MS, a walking, talking embodiment of a chronic incurable degenerative disease.” (Mairs 13), and that she is actually, “the advertisers’ dream: Ms. Great American Consumer. And yet the advertisers, who determine nowadays who will get represented publicly and who will not, deny the existence of me and my kind absolutely”(Mairs 14). Mairs is greatly upset that disabled people are defined by their disabilities and, therefore, are underrepresented in public media. This might lead to one asking themselves, but why are they? And the answer, according to Mairs, is quite simple, “To depict disabled people in the ordinary activities of daily life is to admit that there is something ordinary about disability itself, that it may enter anybody’s life”(Mairs 14). Mairs concludes by pointing out how this effacement could have dangerous consequences for both disabled people and, as she called everyone else, TAPs (Temporarily Abled Persons) alike. Treating disabilities as an abnormal characteristic (as opposed to viewing them “as a normal characteristic, one that complicates but does not ruin human existence” (Mairs 15)) can cause one of these repercussions, as it makes the

The amount of people who live with disabilities is a controversial number. Depending on what law and diagnostic tools used, a person may have a visible disability, or one that may lie beneath the surface of his or her appearance. Some people believe that the term “disability” is merely a label use to hold back, or prescribe helplessness. Meanwhile, individuals who have been properly diagnosed with disabilities struggle to maintain respect and acceptance every day. In plain language, there is a lot of misunderstanding between people with disabilities and those without. It is firstly important to get everyone on the same page regarding the definition of disability.

“There's nothing more debilitating about a disability than the way people treat you over it.”( Solange Nicole) In today's God abandoning society there are many people voicing about equality. There are feminists, those against racism, those against homophobia, and those opposed to everything. Each group seems to have people standing up for them. Although when it comes to a group of cripples there's not many that can do the standing. Ableism: Discrimination in favor of able-bodied people. While many people don't know that word, or do not believe such a thing exists, there are many things proving that it does. It is easy to get caught up in life and not realize the difficulties people have, especially ones that could be easily fixed, just by

In the video “Inclusion, belonging, and the disability revolution” (TEDTalks, 2014), speaker Jennie Fenton opens with describing situations where people with disabilities are segregated and excluded from their communities, sent to live together away from society, or even treated as lesser humans. She then proceeds to introduce her family, including her six-year-old daughter that was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Jennie admits to previously having negative or frightened thoughts about having a child with a disability, but with her “seven realizations,” she learned that her daughter was merely on a different path than others, but that no one should ever feel broken or not a whole person (TEDTalks, 2014). After she explains that there are roughly one billion people with a disability throughout the world, Jennie states that she believes in possibility over disability. If a person’s

In her essay, “On Being a Cripple”, Nancy Mairs, an essayist with multiple sclerosis, writes about her experiences with her disease. She wants her audience of able-bodied people to stop pitying towards disabled people and instead show acceptance. Mairs achieves her purpose by presenting herself as similar and relatable to her able-bodied audience with many anecdotes and a blunt tone. This discussion of her condition removes the discomfort about disabilities felt by her audience and allows for them to accept disabled people. While Maris’s primary audience is an able-bodied person who supports disabled people, other readers, like someone with her condition, may be drawn towards this essay as well. Unlike an able-bodied person, a disabled person

Disability is a topic viewed differently by each set of eyes. To truly understand a disability, one must live through it or frequently view the lives of another, struggling with an infirmity. Living with a disability may be hard, but it does not mean it is not worth living. Nancy Mairs, author of the essay “On Being a Cripple,” has written about her views and experiences, explaining to the public the truth behind being a “cripple,” and proving that disease does not control you. Explained in the paper, able-bodied people make assumptions to how low quality life must be, living with a disease and that these individuals are constantly unhappy however

Further, she demonstrates how she is treated because her disability marks her as “different” from the norm. She suggests, “Society is no readier to accept crippledness than to accept death, war, sex, sweat, or winkles” (Mairs p.4). In other words, Mairs emphasizes although disability’s mind is the same as healthy people, the society treats “disability” differently,

Nothing in Linton’s, article was surprising but it was compelling to read her view of the term “disabled”. I did enjoy the reading and sought out to see if we actually do this and surprisingly it was as accurate. I went to get lunch at Mosher-Jordan hall and I noticed something that quite didn’t fit in the article, which was, we as a society. We just stare, by that I mean we are always looking at a person who doesn’t fit in society norms or because we are afraid to talk to a strangers. I noticed that there was a peer of mine of was blind and needed some assistance in getting his drinks. A staff member in the dining hall helped him get his drinks and I bluntly stared as so did others around the table. After he got his drinks he was eating and

Abstract Aimee Horton and Malcolm Knowles were giants among lifelong learners and had many similarities as well as several contrasts. Their passion was adult learning. Both spent their career passionately facilitating learning for adults while achieving advanced degrees. The two scholars were very similar in their desire that all adults wanted to and could learn. They saw a rapid ever-changing world and the need to adapt to ensure that adult learners was not left behind or taught like children.

Writer, Nancy Mairs, in her essay, “Disability, “she portrays that there is no representation for people with disabilities in media, “especially television” (par 1). She supports this claim by exemplifying that the one time she saw a women with multiple sclerosis it was on a “medical drama” (par 2) that had romanticized the disability, and how that is not the type of representation that people with disabilities deserve since the doctor from the television drama “uses his medical power to strip” the woman from her independence. Mairs’ purpose is to announce to the public that people with disabilities are still people and they do normal people stuff like “talk on the telephone” or “order pizza” (par 4) in order to claim that people with disabilities

Nancy Mairs brings up points that are truly amazing to look back on from a perspective from 2016. Her entire essay boils down to one common statement: "Acheiving this integration, for disable and able-bodied people alike, requires that we insert disability daily into our field of vision: quietly, naturally, in the small and common scenes of our ordinary lives" (15). During this time, anyone who was different, was not even looked down upon, they were simply not looked at at all. Mairs talks about physical disabilities but this was a common theme from anyone who was different, whether you were homosexual, transender, or any other way one can be labeled "different." In today's world, being "different" is not only becoming more and more common, it is becoming appluaded through social media and the fear of being politically incorrect.

The Disabilities movement has been the fight for equal rights for those with a disability, no matter whether it’s physical or mental. The American Disabilities Act of 1990 has centuries of history that led up to it. For hundreds of years, people considered people with disabilities to be contagious, worthless, The Disabilities movement has been the fight for equal rights for those with a disability, no matter whether it’s physical or mental. The American Disabilities Act of 1990 has centuries of history that led up to it. For hundreds of years, people considered people with disabilities to be contagious, worthless, less human, and other terrible descriptions. The thought process evolved, significantly in the 20th century, to a more civil and

One of the largest proponents of the mere-difference view of disability is Elizabeth Barnes. She briefly summarizes her view in four quick bullet points; firstly, that disability is similar to features like race or gender. The second being that disability is not a departure from “normal functioning”. Third, disability is a part of human diversity that has value work preserving. Finally, that most of the downsides from having a disability come from society’s treatment of disabled people. She conceded that all these are not necessary to have a mere-difference view of disability, only that one deny both a good-difference and bad-difference view of disability.

When you see someone suffering from a disability or some type of disease you might not always think it will happen to you. No matter what the disease or disability is, it’s always going to be an inconvenience for the person that has the condition. Some people are out in the open about their disease, while other are quiet and in the dark about it. I believe that even though people have these issues in their life, they should embrace it and continue to be who they are. They may think why me? Why was I given this burden? Even though this disease may stand in the way of them doing specific things they should come to terms with it and do all the other things that it does let them do.

This week’s discussion dealt with Individuals and Disabilities. Over the years, people who have a “disability" have been subjected to prejudice and more. And the first way to diminish someone is through language, by using words or labels to identify a person as "less-than," as "the others—not like us," and so forth. Once a person has been identified this way, it makes